John Updike

Robert Spencer for The New York Times

March 18, 1932 - Jan. 28, 2009

At its best, John Updike's work not only lyrically defined the joys and sorrows of the American middle class, but also gave - as he once wrote of another author - ''the happy impression of an oeuvre, of a continuous task carried forward variously, of a solid personality, of a plentitude of gifts explored, knowingly.'' Mr. Updike died on Jan. 27, 2009, of cancer. He was 76.

Varied and ambitious as Mr. Updike's novels are - ''The Centaur,'' for instance, used Greek myths to illuminate a son's love for his father, and ''The Coup'' conjured up an African kingdom called Kush - they do share an autobiographical impulse that surfaces in certain dominant motifs. Afflicted by a sense of their own mortality, his heroes are given to existential doubts; they are fascinated by suffering as a kind of Christian testing ground, and they hunger for salvation, even as they submit, somewhat guiltily, to the demands of the flesh. As the author, himself, observes, they ''oscillate in their moods between an enjoyment of the comforts of domesticity and the familial life, and a sense that their essential identity is a solitary one - to be found in flight and loneliness and even in adversity." — Michiko Kakutani

Living Desk

At a reasonably quiet restaurant on East 50th Street, John Updike held forth on life, food, writing, religion and, while he was at it, chatted up his latest novel, "In the Beauty of the Lilies," a sweeping tale of 20th-century America.

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April 9, 2014, Wednesday

March 17, 2014, Monday

A half-century ago, Calliope Records issued recordings by John Updike, Philip Roth and others. Those readings have been reissued, allowing listeners to time-travel back to a ripe moment in American fiction.